My wife's 05 Tribute is making a clicking noise, which comes from the left front tire. It only seems to make the noise when she makes a left turn. At first I could'nt hear it, but I don't drive the car too much, now I can hear it. It's not a grinding noise, just like ticking. I took the wheel of and noticed behind the rotor there is a gear with a sensor on the rotor side of the axle between the boot and the rotor. I suspect it is some kind of sensor, probably thin brake pads or maybe someting wrong with the boot. I inspected the pads and they have still about 1/4 left. I just wanted to know if one of you ran into this before before I buy pads and replace them
Thanks

Karl-Heinz

Ticking (or clicking) while turning "typically" indicates a bad CV joint. I'm guessing your Tribute is a 2005 (and not a 1995 as your profile suggests). How many miles? Usually CV joints are good for over 100,000 miles but it possible for one to fail before that.

The gear with a sensor thing should be your ABS system.

I agree, ticking = CV Joint 95% of the time.

It also could be the brake pad hardware.

Usually CV. It's hard to tell without actually hearing or seeing, though. It could be something as crazy as a nail or rock in the tire. or some road debri in an odd spot.

How many miles on it?